I wasn’t exactly excited when I was informed that CONA would be sitting in a mountain. It was even hard to imagine until our delegation was standing in the parking lot of Ingle’s, and Holly (who was busting with excitement) pointed out “That’s CONA! Right up there!” and pointed, sure enough, to a batch of buildings nestled cutely in the mountain.

Already stated, I come from Delaware, where sledding in the winter (if we’re lucky) consists of kids sledding down a shallow ditch by the road, because everything is flat. When we see things bigger than our homes, we stare with eyes the size of dinner plates while saying, “It’s a mountain! Look!” But, no, this is finally the real deal.

Whenever I can, I try to leave meals early and take advantage of all my free time by sitting on the porch, rocking and looking at the mountains. Because it’s all so new to me, it’s definitely a wonder. I try to keep as many people back home as I can, texting them photos of the mountains as the sky changes colors, even though my BlackBerry’s itty bitty 3.2 mega-pixel camera can’t even begin to seriously communicate or capture the truly stunning view: right now, it’s about 8:15pm, and the sky is a soft, hazy purple right where it meets the peaks of the mountains. You can barely make out the texture of greenery on the closest ones at this time, and the clouds are slowly migrating to my left, and even they have gentle hints of pink, purple, blue and gray laced underneath them.

The entire ride down here, I kept wondering, “Why a mountain? Why, of all places on this green earth, did they choose to place Blue Ridge Assembly in a mountain?” Now it’s obvious to me. Up here, things are so beautiful, that it’s impossible to be in a bad mood. We’re just isolated enough from everybody else, where we can focus on each other and what good comes our ways, on meeting new people, and being able to share the common ground of being amazed and comforted by everything around here (except the bears).

So, why am I making a blog about the mountains? Because they’re inspiring, and because I know there are more parents back home (aside from my own) who are interested in where we’re all staying. Plus, during the year – and for those of us who may not return – people can look back here and easily remember their free time on Lee Hall porch, easily conversing with new people and taking in the occasional cool breeze, being able to not worry about life outside of the mountain for a while.